


Brilliant Deductions

by Taldoz



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Detectives, Eventual Romance, F/M, Mystery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:33:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25164733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taldoz/pseuds/Taldoz
Summary: In an alternate life, Makoto Niijima is one of the greatest detectives in Japan. Too bad most mysteries are boring and nothing like her favorite stories of detectives and flamboyant villains. Until a new criminal starts making a name for themselves as The Phantom Trickster. Things just got interesting for the Queen of Mystery.
Relationships: Amamiya Ren/Niijima Makoto, Kurusu Akira/Niijima Makoto
Comments: 2
Kudos: 32





	Brilliant Deductions

**Author's Note:**

> This is very much a WIP sort of thought experiment. Many chapters may be revised at later dates to better facilitate the writing as a whole, especially in regard to formatting.

**Ch. 1**

**The Detective and the Librarian**

"You make it sound easy," she groaned with her head in her hands. Papers scattered across the floor and her desk spoke to how long she'd been here, and the young man beside her only reiterated it for her every five minutes.

"That's because it is. It's just five minutes. You _need_ to take a break, Makoto."

Frustrated, Makoto Niijima sighed and finally relented. It was really no use arguing with him when he was like this, so why bother? Reaching her arms over her head, Makoto stretched for the first time in what must've been hours. The pleasurable pull of her muscles elicited a groan of exhaustion and satisfaction rather than the previous frustration. A loud pop sounded from her back and neck, causing an instant of stinging pain followed by a release of tension she hadn't realized had built up.

"Oof. I _heard_ that," he said. Makoto shot him a glare. He seemed unphased, keeping a calm - if concerned - smile on his face.

"You could make yourself useful, y'know! Honestly, Akira, you said you'd help m-"

He cut her off by placing a steaming cup of coffee in front of her. Makoto sat forward, looking at him with confusion.

"Wait, when did you...?"

"When you weren't looking."

The aroma of fresh coffee filled her nose, sending a warmth through her body. It smelled vaguely of cinnamon and caramel, and Makoto felt herself smile. It'd been a while since she'd had anything besides cheap, stale coffee that sat in a discount coffee pot for hours at a police station. For a moment, she didn't care how Akira had attained this coffee, nor when he'd left to go get it. She only cared about the smooth, bittersweet taste of the warm brew as she savored it. It seemed tailor made to match the small apartment they were in; or at least the private area she'd claimed as her workspace.

"Wait isn't this from LeBlanc?"

Akira's smile turned into a mischievous smirk. His messy black bangs cast a devious shadow over his eyes as he pressed his glasses to his face. 

"Not this time. I made it myself," he seemed to be proud of himself. His long legs crossed one over the other in his wooden chair. Makoto sighed. Akira Kurusu had been her friend for nearly a decade and he still managed to act like a teenager who watched too much anime at times.

"Right. I'll believe it when I see it," chided Makoto. Akira noticeably deflated. He seemed to recover almost immediately, however, and changed the subject back to her work.

"Anyway, you need to take a break."

_Or my lack of work, I suppose._

"I guess."

"Makoto, you're the only person I know who could hate their dream job. You take on too many cases, and you drown in paper work."

"It's the paperwork's fault for being so long!" She sighed. "I never expected bureaucracy to be _this_ important to being a detective!"

"Yeah… not like the books, is it? Hey, remember that one with the Scarlett Killer?"

Makoto smiled, her eyes closed. How could she forget? It was the book that brought them together back before high school; a mystery novel that she'd picked up on a whim, Akira had taken notice of her while she'd been deeply invested into it. So much so that she almost walked into traffic. 

"Mhm!" She nodded with a grin, holding the cup of Clearly-LeBlanc-Coffee in both hands.

"It's what got me started!"

"It's what got you almost killed," corrected Akira with a chuckle.

"Hey it was a good book!" She glared at him, daring him to continue his teasing, but soon softened when he raised his hands in surrender.

"Besides, there aren't really criminals like the Scarlett Killer or Moriarty in the real world…," she said. A sadness seeped into her tone. Akira shook his head silently in agreement with her. 

"I still love it. I just…"

"Hate the paperwork? Yeah, that's why I avoided it."

"You really shouldn't have. There's a reason I come to you, you know."

Akira scratched the back of his head and laughed sheepishly. 

"Yeah, but then who would tend the library?"

"Literally anyone else! You're way better than this, Akira! Besides, if you _did_ then we could… work together?" Makoto's voice trailed off towards the end, a slight warmth filling her face with a pale, nigh invisible, blush. She looked down, finding a _very_ interesting piece of paper by sheer happenstance, her red eyes jumping between staring blankly at the page and looking at Akira. 

_Why am I so nervous?_ she wondered.

Akira didn't seem to notice or even pay much attention, much to her frustration. He instead lifted one of the papers up to read it with one hand while the other held his own, smaller, cup of coffee. Had he not heard her?

"But… we already work together, Mako," stated Akira, his glasses misting over from the heat of the coffee. Makoto wanted to punch him. 

"It's not the same thing!" she nearly shouted. "Me coming to you for your opinion is hardly the same thing as being a partner!"

  
Her red eyes bore a hole into him, a fact which was not lost on the young man who recoiled from her death glare. He raised his hands in surrender, yet again, pleading for mercy from the detective. It often went like this, she knew. She would glare at him for something, he would put on that stupid smile and try to deflect, and she would usually cave - usually because she didn't have the energy to _care_ that much. A resigned sigh finally signaled her surrender to his damnable quest to keep her sane.

"Fine," she shook her head with a long, exhausted sigh. "I should probably give my eyes a rest after staring at these pages for so long."

Akira nodded.

"Thanks, Makoto. I worry about you some days."

"You... You really shouldn't. I'm fine, Akira, really."

"Those bags you're carrying say otherwise, Detective."

A yawn dared to escape, proving his point. She _was_ tired - exhausted even - but she couldn't afford to rest. The thought of sleep tempted her, calling to her like a Siren from Greek myth. The rush of caffeine was enough drown out the song of rest for now. How much longer it would last was another question entirely. For the time being, she could try to relax at least. 

"Hey, Akira?" He looked up from a crossword puzzle book. "Thanks again for letting me stay here."

A small smile formed on his face. His eyes were shining in the light of the lamp above them. For a moment she wondered why he was always so cheerful.

"Don't sweat it! I'm sure your place is way too quiet right now without Sae. How's she, anyway?"

"She's... Fine, I guess." She looked away, not wanting to let him see the uncertainty in her own eyes. "Just staying busy, like always!"

An awkward silence filled the small desk area. It seemed to penetrate every aspect of the air. Makoto took the initiative to change the subject this time. She could always deal with things at home later.

"So... About this new case I'm working on," it came out more like a question that a statement of any kind. Akira was silent, but his body language was screaming with frustration. His back was straight, too straight she would argue, his face was now blank, almost emotionless. She could see his nostrils, however, were flared out ever so slightly, and his breath was slower, calculated.

"It's just this one thing doesn't add up; the victim supposedly hanged themself while in custody. But what's throwing me off is the letter they wrote the night before. It's mostly gibberish at first glance, but I'm not so sure. Take a look!"

Makoto handed over a photo of the letter in question. The letters were scrawled in pencil, by the look of it. It had been creased where the author had folded it into a haphazard rectangle about the size of a credit card. Akira took the paper from Makoto, his eyes darting across the page again and again. His left hand cradled his chin while Makoto sat back and let him dissect the short jumble of words.

> **Bplzyk fk Sfjy**   
>  **Pycne blp c nefir'q eycuyk**   
>  **Dlir ckr npfjqlk**   
>  **Jfkcsl Sqtac**

"It's a cypher." He said after a moment.

"Mhm. I'm pretty certain it's a Caesar Cypher, but I'm having trouble with it. It's definitely in English, though. The victim didn't want just anyone able to read it. The letter was found in a yellow envelope inside their pillow. The only thing on the envelope was a drawing of a small bird."

"A small bird...? Do you have a picture of the envelope?"

Makoto gave a curt nod, digging through her papers for her phone. When finally she found it, she accessed the photo gallery and showed the pictures she'd taken of the envelope to Akira. The envelope itself was as boring as one might expect from any average envelope with the exception of the bright yellow paper it was made from. It was remarkably pristine for having been shoved into a pillow. The front was blank with no address listed for mail, and the back held only the small doodle of a bird that seemed to be trying to hold the lip of the paper shut to keep the envelope sealed.

"It's a canary." He said. "At least I _think_ it's a canary."

"A canary...? Wait, if it's supposed to be holding the envelope shut... You don't think it's a key? A cypher key, maybe?"

Makoto immediately pulled the letter back over to her side of the small desk, frantically scribbling down what she could remember of various ciphers. It wasn't much, but she had enough to make _some_ progress at least. It took her only five minutes to arrive at an answer.

"Frozen in time, reach for a child's heaven, gold and crimson, Minato Tsuba. That last part... I know that name from somewhere!"

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to leave any feedback you may have! This is the first thing I've written in over five years, so I'm definitely a little rusty!


End file.
